This American history quiz runs from the first English settlers at Jamestown to the women who won the vote in 1920. Along the way you'll meet the Boston Tea Party, the Liberty Bell, Lewis and Clark, the Pony Express and the Wright brothers. It's a lively tour of the moments that shaped the country, with a surprising fact behind every answer.
American history is full of moments that didn't happen quite the way the popular version suggests. Take Independence Day. Congress voted for independence and adopted the Declaration in early July 1776, but most historians agree that the famous handwritten copy was signed by most delegates on August 2, nearly a month later. Details like that make history trivia fun, because the true story is often stranger than the tidy one.
Dates themselves can be slippery. When Britain and its colonies switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1752, eleven days were dropped, so September 2 was followed by September 14. That's why George Washington's birthday is listed as February 22, 1732, even though the calendar in use when he was born recorded it as February 11, 1731.
The best way to approach American history questions is to build a rough timeline in your head. Start with a few anchors such as the colonial era, the Revolution, westward expansion, the Civil War and the early 20th century, then place each question within that frame. Thinking about geography helps too, since events tend to follow the frontier as it moved west. Even when you don't know an answer outright, the era and the region can point you toward it.